Sunday, March 24, 2013

I'm really late getting this seven month post together. It has been on my mind for over a week now. Lydia turned seven months old on March 16th.

We went to the doctor on March 7th for Lydia's 6 month checkup and shots. We were surprised to find out that she only weighs 11 pounds and is 22 1/2 inches long. She is small, but Dr. Singletary showed us that she is right on track on her growth curve, although that curve is well below "normal". Lydia is healthy, so I'm not too worried about her being something like -1% on the growth chart. That's my independent girl! Bucking the trends even before a year old! Ha.

Dr. Singletary cleared us to get out of the house with Lydia some more, so we had a good trip to Kroger last Saturday. Lydia was an angel, and looked around at all the new things to see - shelves and people and lights. Then, she fell asleep

Lydia still wears size 2 Seventh Generation diapers. Since the box says they fit from 12 to 18 pounds, we'll probably be in those for a while. She can still wear most of her 3 month clothes, although a few of them are too small. She is in some of the 6 month clothes.

Lydia loves her food! So far she's had squash, peas, sweet potatoes, pears, apples, and carrots. We're trying out bananas next. She cried through the peas (twice) and spit up the apples (also twice), so we might not try those again for a while. At noon and 6 pm Lydia eats 2 1/2 tablespoons of rice cereal mixed with 2 tablespoons of baby food and 1 ounce of milk or formula. We are going to increase to 3 tablespoons of each this weekend to see how she does.

At the moment I'm still pumping, but I'm winding that down. The past few weeks I've dropped a session each week, and I'm down to three (from seven). That means I've gotten almost two hours of my day back, which I've filled with more work while I'm at work and at least 45 minutes more sleep. Sounds ridiculous, but getting in bed by 10:30 pm is a major improvement over 11:15 pm when 5:45 am is my wake up time!

We haven't changed Lydia's feeding schedule much since last month. She eats between 4 and 5 ounces of milk or formula at 6 am and 9 am, food and a few ounces of milk at noon, another 5 ounces at 3 pm, food and milk at 6 pm, then about 4 ounces at 7:30 pm. I get her up for the dream feed at 10 pm, and she'll eat 5 ounces. Most nights (about 5 out of 7?) she sleeps through until 6 am. If she does wake, its usually around 3:30 am, and we can get her back to sleep without feeding her.

Movement comes naturally and smoothly for Lydia now. She can roll from her tummy to her back and from her back to her tummy. A recent development is that most nights she turns herself over and sleeps on her left side. Her hand movements are less jerky and more purposeful. She sees a toy she wants and reaches and grabs it. She can sit up straight if her back is supported. She is just starting to "tripod" sit where she can sit up by leaning on her hands. That generally doesn't last long though before she wobbles and falls over on her Boppy pillow.

Lydia still takes three naps a day: 8-9 am, at midday, and late afternoon. My next goal for her is to get her to two naps per day. When she goes to day care in the fall she'll have only one nap a day, so I really want her to be down to two longer naps by eight months.

I have so much more to say about baby girl, but I'll have to save it for another day. We're going to meet great Grandma Cain today, so it is time to get ready to go.

Friday, March 15, 2013

I got a bonus day home with my baby this week. Our babysitter's grandmother passed away, so she was home with her family on Thursday. I got to work from home. It was great to have a day home with my girl, but working from home is so tough. I never feel like I'm doing either job well - mothering or analyzing.

I did catch some sweet shots of my girl while we played in her room. Chip's mom got her this super cute gorilla that she LOVES. She especially loves it when mom makes monkey noises, too.

We practiced sitting up, but Lydia usually gets pretty frustrated when I make her do this. Her sad face in that last photo is the calm before the screaming storm. She's doing pretty good sitting up in the "tripod" position, though. She wobbles a bunch, but she can lean forward on her arms and balance.

About Me

"If we look at the path, we do not see the sky. We are earth people on a spiritual journey to the stars. Our quest, our earth walk, is to look within, to know who we are, to see that we are connected to all things, that there is no separation, only in the mind." - Native American, source unknown